Mara de los Santos AG531: The Political Economy of Development

Global Studies, M.A Week 2: Summary

The readings for the week delve into how development is tied to colonialism, capitalism, and
ultimately, the Western hegemony. Bernstein (2000) paints, in broad strokes, the three title concepts of
his chapter on Colonialism, Capitalism, & Development.

Bernstein argues that the beginning phases of European colonization and expansion may be
connected and traced to the early onset of capitalism. As European states began to face new crises during
late feudalism, they were driven to seek new lands in order to search for new, untapped sources of
revenue. As such, colonialism effectively helped develop the capitalist ambitions of world powers, such
as Spain and Britain. New markets were opened up for trade, and vast, untapped sources of cheap labour -
through slavery and later, semi-proletarianism and proletarianism - became widely available. As these
colonial powers enforced their rule, they also broke existing markets, values, and indigenous ways of
living within the colonized territories. This gave way to colonial imports such as Catholicism and
Western ideologies of modernity and development. Development began partly as a rationale of
colonialism - foreign states rationalized their colonialism in the name of “development” and
“modernization” according to Western standards. However, many of the policies enacted were
impositions that were divorced from the social realities of the colonized peoples, ultimately resulting in
failure - either by neglect, or by design.

What does it mean to be modern? By whose yardstick do we measure progress? These questions
may be linked to Hall’s (1992) chapter, “The West and the Rest,” which explores the development of the
Western hegemonic discourse. As Hall states, the West is more than a simple geographical concept. The
terms, “The West” and “Western” are tied to ideas of modernity, progressiveness, capitalism, and
development. It has since, arguably, become the dominant ideology in today’s world. This dominance can
be traced back to the age of exploration, where vast swathes of the world fell under control of European
powers. During this time, Europe began imprinting its ideologies, customs, and values on the rest of the
world. Hall also goes into the formation of the term “Europe,” pointing out that within Europe in itself
there are many cultural and ideological variances. European identity solidified as a response to the threat
of an imminent “Other”: Islamic peoples and Mongols, to name a few. The dominant discourse of the
West as good/progressive/developed/modern also began to arise, in direct contrast to views of “Eastern”
countries as savage, exotic, underdeveloped, etc. Orientalism played a role in forming European identity -
it gave early European explorers and academics a “mirror” through which they could view the best and
worst parts of themselves, by examining an unfamiliar culture. These dualisms or binaries continue to
persist today in the form of stereotypes, and an enduring “The West and the Rest” discourse and
mentality.

References
Bernstein, H. (2000.) Colonialism, capitalism, development. In Allen, T. & Thomas, A. (eds.) Poverty
and development into the 21st century (pp. 241-270). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Hall, S. (1992). The west and the rest: Discourse and power. In Hall, S., & Gieben, B. (eds.) Formations
of modernity (pp. 276-308). Cambridge, UK: Polity Press.